Taking the Stage
by Spinnerweb
Summary: Anisette has a bitter rivalry with Cosette, and is angry all the time until a new transfer arrives. However, she finds herself being distant with Avan. Can she make it up with all three? Now features an original character.
1. The Anissette Detachment

**Taking the Stage**

**Chapter 1: The Anisette Detachment**

Anisette kicked the wall. Everyone outside was praising Cosette, her drill squad leader, for winning, and no one knew or cared that it was her who had defeated Avan and got the win. It wasn't fair!

The grey-haired girl leaned against the wall and thought hard. She was better than Cosette at everything, she was sure of that. A smile flitted across her face when she thought how similar her rivalry with Cosette was to that of her sister Edy's with Rosie. But no one would ever appreciate her skill when Cosette was always her squad's leader. She needed to convince the drill ground instructor to put her in another squad - as the _leader._ The Anisette Detachment. She liked the sound of that.

**Later**

Trembling somewhat, Anisette walked towards the drill ground instuctor. Even now, she wondered if the eye patch he wore had any purpose. He seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. It was unnerving the way nobody, not even Melissa, could sneak up on him.

"What do you need, missy?" he asked in his gruff voice.

"Uh-" she paused. Would he ever agree? "I'd like to be put into another squad. For drills."

"Anisette Nelson, is it? Your performance today was slighty better than the usual maggots'."

Anisette felt slightly happier. That was the closest he got to a compliment.

"I suppose you also want to be leader?" he asked, laughing at her surprised expression. "All of the kids who want to change their squad do it only to be the leader. Well, you did well today, so I'll let you have one. Choose your squad draft, and if they all agree to it, then you'll have a squad."

**Much later**

Anisette half-walked, half-ran down to Avan's room. She hoped that he wouldn't be too bitter about her defeating him, but he was the best scout, and she had to have him in her squad. Alexis, Randy, Noel and Franca had readily agreed, but then again, she hadn't shot them in the back during practice. Still, Avan was kinder than the others; he'd taught her to dance when he couldn't dance half-well himself.

She knocked on his door. He opened it a moment later. _He doesn't look grumpy in the least. He'll surely agree_, thought Anisette happily. Before he could open his mouth, she blurted out, "Avan-will-you-be-in-my-squad?"

"What?" he said. She repeated it, slower this time.

"Your squad..." said Avan.

"Please?" said Anisette.

"Well... I'm already in Cosette's squad tomorrow. I'll join when our squads are re-drafted."

"OK..." said Anisette, trying -and failing miserably- to not show her disappointment.

"Sorry." said Avan.

"It's OK."

Avan closed the door. Anisette sighed and went to ask Helmut. Her hatred for Cosette increased tenfold, if possible.

**Night**

Anisette got into bed, thinking of the nasty surprise awaiting Cosette tomorrow. She'd show them all. If only Avan could have been in her squad, it'd have been all the worse for that klutz. Still, Helmut was just about as skilled as Avan, and the rest were the best too, in their respective classes.

**Morning**

"Anisette, get up!" said Sofia, throwing a pillow at her.

"I don't want to." said Anisette.

"If you won't, you'll be late for the morning drill!"

Anisette shot up in a splintered second. Sofia smirked. "I knew that would get you."

"Idiot," Anisette muttered.


	2. The Big Match

**Chapter 2: The Big Match**

**Still morning**

Anisette put on her new (and much prettier, she thought) leader's combat uniform. She walked out to her waiting squad, who stood at attention. It was a new feeling; no need to stand at attention in front of Cosette anymore.

They walked out together to the drill grounds. The ground was covered in a thin layer of frost; it was pretty cold. Anisette didn't care though. She was going to win today, and she was going to be the one to shoot Cosette, no matter what.

"Hey, you!" shouted a much hated voice. An angry Cosette ran towards them. "Why weren't you there today while we were getting ready?"

Suddenly she paused. "Uh, Anisette, why are you wearing red? Our squad's uniform is blue."

"Maybe," said Anisette, walking up to her, "it's because I'm not in your squad anymore."

"What?" said Cosette, a frenzied look coming over her face. Anisette laughed and walked away.

**A while later**

"All right, squad leaders, step forward. Cosette Coalhearth from Squad Jarde," shouted the drill instructor. Cossette steppped forward. "And Anisette Nelson, from the Anisette Detachment!"

Cosette hiccuped; then it dawned on her. Anissette stepped forward.

"Shake hands!"

Anisette held out her hand to Cosette, a smile on her face. A few moments later, Cosette did the same, an ugly look on her face.

"Get into position! The victory condition is defeat of the leaders!"

They all shuffled off to where their leaders directed them.

Anisette held her breath. This was what she wanted. She was going to win today! Better still, she was going to be the one to embarrass Cosette.

The drill instructor blew his whistle and Anisette leapt forward, almost lion-like. She made a dash for where she thought Cosette was.

"Stay at the base camp and protect it!" she shouted to Franca as she ran past her. Franca nodded and ducked behind the sandbags she'd put there earlier.

**Fifteen minutes later**

Anisette ran everywhere. She'd already defeated everyone in Cossette's squad. Except Avan and Cosette herself. Where were they?

"Hurry up! I haven't got all day!" shouted the drill instructor.

Anisette hid behind a container, breathing hard, ready to shoot Avan or Cosette if they ran past.

**Ten minutes later**

"Enough of shouting at you maggots! You've got five minutes left! If you can't shoot someone in that time, the squad with less people taken down will be the winner!" shouted the drill instructor.

Anisette's breathing eased. She was going to win, after all. She'd taken down everyone in Cossette's squad except Avan and her.

Confident of an easy victory, she adjusted herself into a more comfortable position and hummed a lullaby Edy used to sing to her when she was younger.

"And the winner: Cosette Coalhearth!" shouted the drill instructor. Anisette got up, feeling horrified. How could it have been? There were only two people left in Cossette's squad.

She ran to the drill instructor. Cosette and Avan were already there.

"What...?" she said. Her entire squad sat on a bench, looking grumpy. They had all been defeated, except her. How did it happen?

She walked back to the school, feeling useless.

**Afternoon**

Anisette lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling, utterly depressed. Throughout the day, her squad's members had come and told her that they wanted the squad disbanded.

Somone knocked on her door. After a long pause, Anisette opened it.

"Hey," said Avan. "I'm sorry I couldn't be in your squad."

"I don't want to hear of it." she said, trying to shut the door.

"Anissette, what did you expect us to do? I had to fight for my side."

Even though Anisette knew he was right, she didn't forgive him.

"Your squad was defeated because you didn't lead them at all."

Anisette looked up, slightly interested.

"As leader, you need to order them around, tell them what to do. They were unsure of what they were supposed to do because you didn't tell them, except Franca, but even she didn't know when she had to move."

They talked for a while, and Anisette's mood lightened. Tomorrow, she'd make sure no one could defeat her - or her squad. Tomorrow she'd start over, and no one, least of all her squad, would be disappointed. Except Cosette.


	3. New Transfer

**Chapter 3: New Transfer**

Anisette got up, tired. She had barely had a wink of sleep last night, going through the strategy plan for the drill over and over in her head. She looked out of the window and her heart sank a little; it was pouring with rain. How would she be able to run?

As she ate what she thought was a poor breakfast at the mess hall, the drill instructor came in and shouted: "All right, maggots! Professor Brixham told me to let you off drills today, even though I disagree. Get to your classes!"

As Anisette walked into the class, Professor Brixham said: "Settle down, Class. We have a new transfer arriving today."

A good-looking boy came up. "Hi, I'm Zack Fair."

Zack was a nice addition to the class. A fencer, he was good at almost everything, and could make the class laugh whenever he wanted. The teachers and students alike agreed that he was a good cadet.

Zack's combat skills weren't tested first day. They had indoor target practising, but that was it. Zack and Avan drew a draw on it. They were getting on well. Anisette's day was just the opposite. Even though Zack didn't ignore her, she felt he didn't talk to her as much as he did to Cosette. And a letter arrived and made her day worse. Edy had written, saying she had rejoined the militia and gone to Randgriz to protect Cordelia, the archduchess; so she couldn't come visit as she had promised.

Later that night, most of the cadets had gone to bed. A few hung around in the common room. Eventually, only Anisette and Zack were there. Anisette finished her homework. After the disappointment her day had been, she longed to talk to someone friendly. Zack looked like he would be friendly. She went and sat next to him.

"Hi," he said, looking up.

"Hi."

Zack finished his work and closed his notebook. He sat back and said, "Pretty bad weather, eh?"

"I like the rain," she said. "Except we can't do drills then," she added with a hint of bitterness.

"You like drills?"

"Well... yeah, I guess."

"So do I, in a way."

"What are you going to do when you're done here?"

"I'm going to become a hero," he said, smiling.

The next morning, as Anisette ran through the rain to the mess hall, Zack caught up with her and walked next to her. Anisette felt a surge of happiness. Finally, someone treated her like a friend.

"All right maggots! You won't drill today, but you'll stay fit! 150 squats, now!" shouted the drill instructor.

Anisette groaned. She preferred drills. By the fiftieth squat, her legs threatened to break.

"And there's still another hundred to go!" she said between squats.

"I like squats. I do them all the time," said Zack between squats.

Nothing much happened the next few days. Anisette's friendship with Zack had even dulled her rivalry with Cosette, although it flared up again whenever someone praised the latter. But even between that, she felt rather empty inside sometimes. More than once, she felt that she was ignoring Avan and preferring Zack. She'd comfort herself by thinking it was payback for the times he'd been with Cosette, but she felt empty just the same.

Author's note: Hope you enjoyed. This Zack may be identical to the one from Final Fantasy, but there is no mention of it in this story.


	4. Rebel Assault

**Chapter 4: Rebel Assault**

A few days later, the rain let up. The sky cleared, and life at Lanseal became normal. Anisette returned to Cosette's squad, because she had finally given in and disbanded the Anisette Detachment. She'd try later, once she learned more about leadership.

Her friendship with Zack stayed fast, but she seemed to be getting more and more distant with Avan. Sometimes she'd feel that he noticed this, oblivious as he usually was. Cosette won medal after medal for Anisette's efforts, and Anisette burned inside seeing someone else take her glory.

Zack turned out to be an excellent fencer, and became his squad's favourite. He had a sword of his own, but he always used one of the academy's standard issue swords. Nobody asked him why as long as he excelled, which he did.

A cold winter day, Anisette felt emptier than ever before. Even after breakfast. She decided to make up with Avan again. After all, she owed the respect her sister Edy gave her to him. She shuddered thinking what would have happened if he hadn't taught her to dance. Edy would have never looked at her again.

Evening came, and she walked back and forth a few times, deciding whether or not to go. She'd better. No, why bother. Doing so, she bumped into Zack.

"Hey, I've been looking for you. Wanna do some sparring?" he said.

She didn't answer immediately. Zack rather reminded her of Avan. They even _sounded_ something alike. "Yeah, I guess..." she said slowly.

"Is anything wrong?"

"No, nothing." she said, shaking her head.

A few minutes into their sparring, Cosette ran up. Anisette felt her insides shift with hatred.

"What are you two doing!" she screamed.

"We're sparring," said Anisette calmly.

"I told you two, you can't do any sparring or combat! Tomorrow's the Levatain Cup quarter-final, and I won't have you two wasting your energy!"

"Who's the leader for Class G?" asked Anisette, lifting her sword and trying to hit Zack on the side; he blocked easily.

"Avan, obviously."

"Good," said Anisette. She couldn't bear having Cosette order her around. Zack dropped his sword, a moment later she did too.

"But if you're not the leader, why are you telling up what to do?"

"Because I'm second-in-command," said Cosette simply.

"What about Zeri?"

"He is too, but we can pick two Class Leaders besides the Chair for the Cup."

_Why does Avan always pick her and Zeri just because they suck up to him?_ thought Anisette angrily. She made up her mind not to talk to Avan. She walked with Zack to the dorms.

"Hey, is anything on between you and Cosette?" he asked.

"Nothing, except that she always gets lauded for what I do when she's so clumsy," said Anisette, and tripped as she said it.

Zack laughed. "I can see that," he said, helping her up.

That night, long after everyone had gone up to bed, Anisette and Zack talked about the Levatain cup, which both were excited about. Somehow or other, the talk turned to their pasts; Anisette told Zack about her family and their hometown.

"What about you? You've not talked about it since you came," she said.

"Well... to tell the truth, I came from the Diebal regions."

"That's a Darcsen settlement, isn't it?"

"And I'm a Darcsen."

Anisette reeled back as if Zack had slapped her in the face with a plate of poached eggs. "What? But you got a last name, and Darcsens don't!"

"I just made one up for myself to avoid all the Darcsen persecution in Gallia. I'm just Zack," he said, leaning back calmly. He ran a hand through his hair.  
>"I had to dye this to stop people from finding out, it was such a nice colour before."<p>

Anisette laughed. "I bet it was."

They both talked, and although they had sat on opposite sides of the couch before, towards the end of the conversation they were next to each other.

"Well, I guess we should go get some sleep," Zack wisely suggested. He hugged Anisette before he got up. "Oh, and not a word about me being a Darcsen to anyone. Even Brixham doesn't know." he said.

"Why don't you trust anyone?" asked Anisette with a laugh.

"I trust you, that's why I told you," said Zack, smiling. Both of them got closer together and embraced, their lips just a fraction of an inch away from each other when-

BOOM.

"What kind of rebels attack at this time of night?" said Zack as he picked up his sword. As he did, Anisette pulled her machine-gun out from under the couch. The school bells sounded.

"They're making it sound like the rebels didn't wake us up already!" Zack shouted.

Anisette smiled. Zack could make a joke even out of a rebel assault. They ran out, Zack snagging his shield as he went.

One of the school buildings had fallen by the explosion; rebels were in the classrooms. Some of the students were up already and defending Lanseal. Anisette turned a table over, crouched behind it and shot at the rebels. Zack ran ahead and rammed a rebel with his shield; he hit the rebel again to knock him out but didn't kill him.

Randy and Franca came to back Anisette up; Alexis, Helmut and Pete ran into another classroom to take care of the rebels there, and Noel, Vario and Reiner went out into the school grounds, bearing their lances, to blow up the enemy tanks. Avan, Cosette and Zeri ran to protect the school gates.

"Take THAT!" said Anisette as she shot a rebel in the leg. She was firing freely, but was being careful not to hit Zack, who was fighting rebels in front of her.

Suddenly a tank came into view of the door, which had been blasted open. Its head turned, and it fired.

"Quick, dodge!" said Randy as they rolled out of the way. The tank round hit the table and blew it into the air as if it was made of paper.

"Zack, quick!" shouted Anisette as the tank prepared to fire again. Zack rolled out of the way, and the tank round blew a hole in the wall.

Just then an enemy mauler came in front of Anisette. Her focus being on the tank outside, she did not see him. She turned around as he swung his maul when Zack ran up, threw her out of the way and took the hit himself.

Franca and Randy shot the mauler, but Zack was hit. Anisette crawled up to him. He wasn't moving. Noel fired a lance at the tank outside, and it rolled over to its side as the lance exploded, killling the tank's pilot.

"Randy! He's hit!" Anisette shouted. "Quick, the ragnaid!"

It was a strange state, almost in slow-motion; engineers rushed to Zack, fire was burning in the room, and Anisette felt rather weak.

Raymond carried Zack to the hospital wing. Zack was alive, but only just. Anisette felt terribly guilty; Zack had taken the hit that was meant for her.

She stood up and ran to the hospital wing after everyone else.

**Author's Note: Thanks to eric8teen for reviewing, Bnzboy for following this story and you for reading this chapter.**


	5. Trying to be Friends

**Chapter 5: Trying to be Friends**

**Author's note: This chapter contains a single word of swearing, to show the characters' anger. Hope you don't mind.**

Anisette ran to the hospital. "Where's Zack?" she asked nobody in particular.

"Inside. The engineers are treating him," said Avan. Soon the students were sent back to their dorms. Most of them sat in the common room. Nobody could sleep. The smell of smoke and dead people was everywhere. Anisette sat alone in a corner, only one question on her mind.

_Is he even alive?_

Something disturbed her thoughts; Avan came and sat next to her. "Hey, you all right?" he asked.

"Yeah." Anisette felt her throat constrict. She wanted to apologize to Avan for all her coldness, but her courage failed her. She looked up at Avan, and thought how much he resembled Zack.

"Hey, Avan?" came a voice. Cosette walked up. Anisette stiffened at once.

"How's Zack?" she asked.

"He'll live," answered Cosette. "Anyway, Avan, you should come."

"I'd like to have a word with him," said Anisette coldly. "In private," she added, as Cosette lingered a bit. Cosette eyed them both suspiciously and went away.

Anisette's anger had given her the courage she needed. She turned to Avan, took a deep breath, and said,"Look, I'm sorry."

Avan looked puzzled. "Why?"

"For giving you the cold shoulder."

"Oh, right. I dunno, I didn't really mind. I thought it was just me. Y'know, we didn't really talk much back then before I taught you to dance either."

Both of them smiled, reliving the fond memories. "That was because we didn't know each other. This wasn't like before." said Anisette after a pause.

"Thanks for explaining, then," said Avan. Anisette felt as if a large weight had been lifted from her mind. She was able to look him in the eye again. He did, too.

"I wasn't really mad at you," she said.

"I knew it," he said with a huge smile. Both of them hugged when-

"Oh," said Cosette pointedly as she walked in again.

"Can't you wait a second?" said Anisette, flaring up.

"Can't you keep your hands to yourself?" said Cosette.

"I wasn't doing anything!"

"You sure as hell were, jerk."

"Bitch."

"Shut it, both of you," said Avan, stepping in between them.

"Avan, come on," said Cosette, pulling on his arm.

"No," he said, shaking her off and walking to his room.

Both girls looked after him, shocked. He had never been angry like this.

"You ruined everything," said Anisette.

"I wasn't-" said Cosette, when Anisette interrupted.

"You walked in just as we were friends again!"

"You seemed more than that."

Anisette gave up and turned away in disgust. Her room seemed more inviting now as she was tired. As she walked away, she heard Cosette say, "I just hope Lotte doesn't write this all in her newspaper."


	6. Missing in Action

**Chapter 6: Missing in Action**

The next day, Anisette, Cosette and Avan seated themselves as away from each other as possible. Anisette looked over at them both. Avan wasn't looking at any of them. Cosette was looking at Avan, her eyes bloodshot. She looked like she had been crying.

_She deserves it_, thought Anisette viciously. But she couldn't help feeling sorry for Cosette, as much as she disliked her. She wondered what it must be like to be disliked by the person you were closest to. Then again, Avan was equally unhappy with her. She prodded her food, moodily.

_I'll go visit Zack today_, she thought. The idea cheered her up.

But she couldn't bear the idea of things being back to the way they were now that she had apologized. What was wrong with Avan? He'd seen Cosette and her get into catfights before. Well, not catfights, but arguements. He wasn't the type to be angry for long, anyway.

They were drilling harder than ever now. Cosette had disbanded her squad, and now they were all Class G again. They were drilling with another class.

_As it should be,_ thought Anisette with a satisfied smile.

The drills were exhausting, but in a good way. After drills, Anisette walked to the hospital. Zack was there, but he wasn't awake. Disappointed, she turned away. Everything was against her.

"Hey Anisette, why the long face?" said Pete as she walked into the dorms.

"A lot of stuff," she said bitterly.

"Oh, OK," he said.

"You need a bit of singing to cheer you up, gal!" said Vario, and started a song:

_"When darkness is drowning your soul;_

_When all your friends are gone-"_

"Do me a favour, and shut up. You're making my ears hurt," said Anisette, her voice thick with wrath. Vario backed down.

A few days passed pretty much the same way. Anisette went to visit Zack again, to see if he was awake, and he wasn't there. She paused for a minute; her brain seemed to freeze.

"Looking for Zack?" said the matron. "He's back to the academy; I don't approve of going back so soon, though."

Anisette ignored the rest of what the matron said; at _back to the academy_ she dashed back to his room. He was there. He sat up, clutching his chest as if it hurt him from the movement

"How are you?" was the first thing she asked. He smiled.

"I'm all right. It's good to see you," he said.

"You should rest for a few days."

"I can't."

"I wouldn't be able to either."

"So, any more catfights with Cosette?"

Anisette sat with him on his bed. "Yeah," she admitted after a long pause. She felt she could tell him all that had happened, so she did. He just nodded.

"Eh, it's all right, they'll forget it in a few days," he said, absent-mindedly stroking her hair as he said it, but to Anisette it seemed a very friendly -and comforting- gesture; his hands were warm.

"It's time to go to sleep, goodbye," she said, getting up. She kissed him on the cheek and went out.

It seemed really cold outside compared to the warmth of Zack's room. Anisette walked to her room, jumping at every sound.

The day after that, nothing happened until evening, when Anisette was wandering alone in the drill grounds when she noticed Cosette walking towards her.

"Hey, have you seen Avan?" asked Cosette.

"No," said Anisette. She had made up her mind to not argue with Cosette, but she was still cold.

"He didn't come to drill today, did he?"

Anisette looked up in surprise. Avan indeed hadn't come. Forgetting her enmity for a moment, she said, "Why?"

"I don't know."

**(Author's note: This is set around the time Avan finds out his brother is an artificial Valkyrur.)**

The two girls, united for once because of their concern for Avan, searched, but couldn't find him until late night, long after they were supposed to be asleep. They hadn't dared to venture towards the R&D building at night, but now they did. Cosette was nearly in tears.

He was hitting an APC with a wrech, as if he was venting his anger on it. He didn't notice them. Cosette spoke up.

"Avan?"

He dropped his wrech. "What?"

"What's the matter?"  
>"Look, I'm not handling the fact that my brother is a rebel very well, all right? I'm sure he doesn't remember me. He isn't human any more!"<p>

"Avan..."

"Shut up! Go away!"

This was too much for Anisette. "I know what you feel like, but this isn't our fault!" she shouted.

"You don't."

"My sister is in Randgriz, and she could be killed any second!"

"At least she knows who you are!"

"And a lot of good knowing me is going to do her when she's fighting for her country. Don't take it out on us, or Lavinia's tank," said Anisette. Avan came up to her, glaring fiercely. He was taller than her and looked down at her, but she didn't back down.

"Nevermind," he said, walking away.

Anisette and Cosette looked at each other, and wordlessly departed. Arguing with Avan hadn't help their relations one bit.

The next day, Class G was told that Avan was missing.


	7. Guerilla

**Chapter 7: Guerilla**

The students of Class G sat in the dormitory, feeling utterly hopeless. Anisette and Zack sat together. No one felt like talking. Zeri, Aliasse, and a team of scouts and shocktroopers had gone to search for him.

A while later, Cosette walked towards Anisette. "Hey, I know you don't want to talk to me, but we saw him last night. You don't think he's gone to find his brother?"

Anisette grudgingly got up, Zack with her. "Brixham didn't come today. Do you think he knows anything?" she said

"Well, we'll have to ask him," said Zack. The three walked to the staff room. Brixham sat there, his head in his hands.

"Professor?" said Cosette.

"Yes?" he looked up.

"Did you see Avan last night?"

"Well, yes I did," said Brixham after a long pause. "In fact, he told me he was going."

The three looked at each other in shock.

"What did he say?"

"Just that he was going to find his brother."

"And you let him go?" asked Zack.

"After a rebel assault, many older students decided to form a guerilla army, and fight the rebels by themselves. Avan would have joined them. It's the closest he can get to the rebels. I couldn't stop him, because I'm joining them myself," Brixham got up, and picked up his sniper rifle. This was an even bigger shock to the trio. Seeing the looks on their faces, he said, "I have to take care of my students, even when they take matters into their own hands."

"Wait," said Anisette. "Let us join too."

Brixham looked up. "Well, I suppose I can't stop you."

It was settled. Once Class G knew their plans, most of them came, leaving some behind to defend the school. Going guerilla was harder than Anisette thought. They'd have to navigate miles on foot every day, but Anisette, Zack and Cosette had to find their friend. Zeri and Aliasse were with them.

After a month of leaving Lanseal behind-

"Oh, heck," said Anisette as they started their descent of a mountain, and looking down, saw a rebel force. They were preparing for an attack when a group came from their right and-

"Avan!" shouted Aliasse, jumping with joy. Looking at the group, Anisette recognized the students of Lanseal. So this was their army; barely 20 people. It was laughable that they thought they could win, but they had made it out this far.

After everyone greeted everyone else, Avan came to Cosette and Anisette. Cosette hugged him at once; he was smiling. There was an awkward silence as he turned to Anisette.

"Hey," he said,"that was some fight we got into when we last met."

"It's OK," said Anisette, giving him a hug. Behind them, Cosette gave her a withering glare.

"So, you're going to attack those rebels?" said Avan, looking in the rebel force's direction. "Bad idea; they got no tank, this smells like a trap."

"Well, we could circle around them and attack them from behind."

"Which means another day of walking, and none of us is up to that," said Zack. "We'll attack them up-front right now, and if it's a trap, we'll just have to wing it."

They spread out. The rebels had spotted them and were moving up the mountain; the Lanseal students had an advantage. Brixham was farther back with his sniper rifle, ready to strike the rebels from afar.

At an order from their drill instructor, who had come with them, they opened fire on the rebels. The fencers rushed forward, Zack with them.

This went on for about ten minutes when a tank burst out from the side and fired a mortar at them. Vario and Noel fired a few lances at it; it was no good.

"We were such a bunch of sodding idiots," said Anisette as they rushed around to avoid the mortar.

"We need a lancer to get behind it and then fire," said Randy. Noel, Vario and Riener looked doubtful.

"Well..." began Noel, "It's all trees from the side. How do we know there aren't more of them?"

"You don't," said Randy.

"Then let's all go," said Franca.

"No, if too many of us go they'll aniticiapte an attack."

"Then give me that lance," said Anisette impatiently, snatching Vario's lance.

"What?" said everyone at once.

"If you can fire it, so can I," she said.

Regardless of their warnings, she ploughed on into the forest and ran forward to some distance. Then she turned and ran towards the side to some distance. She was coming out of the forest when-

"Ack, mauler!" she screamed. A mauler was making his way to her. She had feared them after what had happened to Zack. She had left her machine-gun behind. She cursed herself for her stupidity. Her only choice was to fire the lance she had to survive. She got ready to fire when there was a flash of a swordand the mauler lay dead. She looked up to thank her saviour; it was Zack.

"Thanks," she said.

"Don't try so hard to get killed," he laughed.

As she came out of the forest, she saw the radiator on the tank's back. Hidden by the trees, she took her aim and fired. She covered her ears as it lunged forward from the impact and exploded.

Seeing their only big gun destroyed, the rebels were soon in full retreat. The rest of the Lanseal soldiers came down, cheering for her. Zack hoisted her up and everybody carried her on their shoudlers. It was marvellous to be a heroine.

Cosette followed behind, a bitter look on her face.

Author's note: Hope you enjoyed. I realize the previous two chapters suck, and that's where reviews come in. Please review, and tell me where you want the story to go and how I can improve my story. Thanks a lot.


	8. Liberating Diebal

**Chapter 8: Liberating Diebal**

Anisette was the heroine of the day. However, soon, with them fighting rebels everyday, her heroism was forgotten. They had walked closer and closer to the Diebal region, and now, as they neared it, Anisette pulled Zack back while the others walked ahead.

"So, what's it like, coming back home?" she asked.

He was looking at the mountains in a daze. "It's wonderful," he said.

"Are you going to visit your family?" she asked.

"My family... well, they left this place. Said it wasn't safe. So no, I suppose," he said.

But as they neared the Darcsen settlement, they could tell that something was wrong. There was the smell of smoke coming out from the houses. A worried look came over Zack's face. "They're here too," he said.

The rest of the group had gone ahead; gunfire suddenly sounded. The rest of the guerillas came running out.

"The rebels are here, we gotta leave!" shouted Cosette, wringing her hands.

"Calm down, everyone!" shouted Avan admist the chaos.

"The larger part of this group, stay here and provide suppresing fire! Zack, Cosette, Anisette, you three sneak up on them from behind and attack them from there!" he ordered. The trio took off as the rest of the guerillas fired at the rebels from their location.

"Walk faster Anisette, I want you in front of me!" said Cosette in a scared voice.

When they neared the Darcsen houses, Cosette said, "I'll look for survivors," and left. Zack and Anisette crouched and walked slowly through the snow.

"She's a coward, isn't she?" said Anisette.

"Well, yes," said Zack with a laugh, but Anisette knew he was only fiegning cheerfulness; his eyes showed his worry for the rest of the Darcsens.

When the duo neared the rebels who had their backs on them, they split up and sneaked up on individual rebel attackers. Anisette grabbed one of them and the rest of the rebels turned on her.

"Don't fire or I'll blow his head off!" she said, pointing her gun at the man's head who she was holding. The rebels lowered their weapons. Zack came from behind and hit two of them with his sword; they fell, injured. Zack knocked them out, but didn't kill them.

"Lady, you need to work on your tactics," said the rebel who Anisette was holding, next moment he spun her around and took her gun.

"Anisette!" said Zack, but stopped as the rebel aimed his gun at her.

"How'd you like it if I shot your girlfriend right here?" said the rebel, aiming at Anisette's shoulder. As he kept Zack off, he pressed the trigger and fired a single bullet into Anisette's left arm. She cried out in pain. Before the rebel could do anything more Zack swung his large sword and hit the rebel in the neck, killing him.

Zack picked Anisette up and started walking with Anisette over his shoulder. "We gotta get you to an engineer," he said.

"It hurts," she said. Then she noticed something. "Zack, why aren't there any Darcsens here?" she asked. Zack went quiet, but Anisette knew he was thinking the same thing: had the rebels killed all the Darcsens? Were they too late?

"Randy!" shouted Zack as they neared the rest of the group. "She's hurt."

"It's not that bad, some ragnaid should fix this up," said Randy, and healed Anisette in a short while. Cosette was already there; she had run back when she had heard the shots.

"We should look for survivors now," said Avan.

"We would have found some if this coward hadn't run back," said Anisette, gesturing towards Cosette.

"Shut up!" said Cosette.

"You shouldn't have run back, that's all," said Anisette, ignoring Cosette's glares. "If you're that scared, you shouldn't have come at all," she said.

"I didn't think it would be this bad!" shouted Cosette.

Anisette said nothing more and walked back towards the houses, Zack with her. Avan sent out other scouts; they split up into pairs of twos to find survivors quicker. Anisette, of course, paired with Zack.

They searched for about half an hour when they heard sobbing. It sounded like a child. They walked towards the source of the sound and found a girl holding a teddy bear. Her eyes were red from crying.

"What happened?" asked Anisette, kneeling in front of the girl.

"Those... big, scary men... they killed my family," sobbed the girl.

Anisette felt her heart break for the girl. She pulled the child into a hug as her mind went back to two years ago.

_**Flashback: Two years ago**_

_Anisette walked back from school, chatting with one of her friends. They parted at Anisette's gate. Anisette walked in and said, "Mother, Father, Edy, I'm home!" There was no answer. "Mother, Father!" she called again. No response._

_Anisette felt a bit worried. Then she heard the sound of someone crying. She walked into the room she shared with Edy and found her older sister crying. _

_"Edy, what's wrong?" she asked._

_"Mother, Father... Imperials came into town...killed them..." said Edy between ragged breaths. For a while, darkness seemed to descend on Anisette and she could remember nothing._

_A few days later, Edy told her that she was joining the Gallian militia. She gave Anisette an application form for Lanseal Royal Military Academy. "It will be safer for you, and you'll learn to defend yourself," she said. Before they left, they took an oath to one day become celebrities together._

_And so began her life at Lanseal._

_**End Flashback**_

She had kept telling herself for two years that she had toughened it out, that she had recovered from that shock. But listening to this girl seemed to bring it all back.

"It's all right, it's all right," she kept telling the girl, even though she knew it wasn't. She took the girl's hand and stood up; then she noticed that Zack wasn't there. She took the girl back to the group.

"Give her some food and try to cheer her up, I'll go look for Zack," she said. She saw Cosette bend down and talk to the girl.

She found Zack in the house where they had fought rebels earlier. He was talking to one of the rebels he had knocked out, who had regained conciousness. He had pressed his sword to the man's throat.

"Are there any more of you?" he asked.

"Y-yes, we're just a detachment of Squad 3 of the Gallian Revolutionary Army," said the rebel.

"Where are the rest?" asked Zack.

"They're coming here tomorrow to... to burn the village down after we kill the remaining Darcsens," said the man, and laughed. Zack kicked the man over next to his other comrades.

"What are you gonna do?" asked Anisette. Zack looked up; there was fire in his eyes.

"Tie them up, and leave them here until they starve," said Zack, gesturing towards the group of unconcious rebels.

"I meant about their squad," said Anisette.

"I'm gonna stay here and kill them all," said Zack.

"I'll stay with you," said Anisette.

"You go ahead; you have no reason to stay. You're not a Darcsen, and you didn't lose anyone," said Zack.

"I do," said Anisette. "I know how you feel, and I can't leave you here," she said. "My parents were killed by Imperialists."

Zack looked up, "Oh. Sorry."

They went to the rest of the group and told them. Most of them, like Cosette, ridiculed them for thinking they could wipe out a squad. Noel, Helmut, Randy and Franca said they would stay with them.

"You're taking a third of our squad to get killed!" said Cosette angrily.

"I'm not; they said they would stay," said Anisette defiantly.

Avan said, "What's the use of it? I know it's terrible, but what-"

"Shut up!" Zack shouted at Avan, and everyone else went quiet. "All you care about is finding your rebel brother and having some stupid, macho showdown!"

"You came with your own decision, I didn't force you into this! You're a selfish idiot, you know that?" shouted Avan. Everyone was quiet, scared even. Zack and Avan had always been friendly before; and now they were shouting at each other with bitter resentment in their eyes.

"Then this selfish idiot is staying on to protect his home!" said Zack, raising his shirt's sleeve, showing a brutal injury and over it, a cloth bearing the mark of the Darcsens.

"You're a Darcsen?" said Magari in a scared voice.

"Go to hell, then," said Avan, trembling with fury.

Zack turned to Mischlitt, Magari and Zeri. "Well?" he said.

"What?" said Zeri.

"Doesn't it bother you that Darcsens were killed here, and this whole place is going to be burnt down?"

"Darcsens do not retaliate," said Mischlitt.

"That's exactly why they all got killed," said Zack bitterly, and walked away. Avan walked away; the rest of their groups shuffled after them.

That night, Anisette sat next to Zack in a corner of a Darcsen house. He was quiet, and she didn't break the silence. Finally he spoke.

"That rebel who shot you," he said.

"What about him?" asked Anisette.

"I'm thinking: When I killed him, I didn't even flinch or blink; heck, I even enjoyed it because he hurt you. You're really important to me," he said.

Anisette felt herself blush slightly but said,"You're important to me too."

Zack turned towards her. "You're sixteen years old. At your age, people are worried about their looks. Does this kind of life seem forced on you?" he asked.

"Hey, you're the same age as me, so you should be able to answer that yourself, right?" she said.

"Being a Darcsen changes everything. Everything feels forced on me. That's why you matter so much to me; someone who doesn't treat me like an outsider," he said.

"Enough with the philosophical babble," she said, feeling herself blush even more.

Zack leaned over and kissed her. Her heart beat so fast she was sure he could hear it. She embraced him and returned the kiss. They finally had a few moments' peace, no Cosette to walk in on them, no rebels to attack, no Lotte to take their picture.

As they sat in the same way a while before, Anisette saw, near the foot of the mountain, far below them, two figures: Avan and Cosette. They were talking and after a while, they leaned towards each other as if kissing. Anisette wondered whether she even cared about Avan or Cosette anymore.

Zack and Anisette fell asleep sitting next to each other. The next morning they saw that Avan and Cosette's group was gone, and in its place a group of rebels was moving towards them. The Darcsen girl who they had saved came running to them.

"Your friends left me, and those scary men are coming again!" she said. She still had her teddy bear with her.

"They left her? What a bunch of twits," said Zack.

"What's your name?" Anisette asked the girl.

"Mia," said the girl.

"OK, Mia, stay here, we're gonna drive those scary men away," said Anisette, picking up her gun.

As they walked out to fight the rebel squad, Anisette knew what to say to boost here group's morale: "Anisette Detachment, move out!"

**Author's note: A big thanks to eric8teen for his support.**


	9. Taking the Stage

**Chapter 9: Taking the Stage**

"You know we're gonna die, don't you?" said Anisette to Zack as they looked at Rebel Squad 3. "We can never win against a squad that big."

"I know. But getting revenge on my people was always my priority, everything else was a distant second. Heck, if we all die, it will have been worth it just to kill some more rebels," he said.

"I know how you feel. Well then, let's go out with a bang!"

They ran out fearlessly, ready to die. Already Squad 3 had started attacking.

"They've got 3 tanks, and I have only enough lances to take out two of them!" shouted Noel over the freezing wind.

"Take out those two first, and we'll see about the third later," said Anisette, realizing she had just given an order. As she realized this, a memory of Avan telling her about leadership flashed through her mind and she became even more bitter. What did _he_ know about leadership and the burden it was.

For the first time, none of them bothered to keep the rebels alive. Zack and Anisette in particular didn't care whether the rebels stayed alive or not; the only thing on their mind was to kill as many of the rebels as they could.

The rebel squad blitzed through them. They managed to kill some in the middle; the rest ran right through towards their base camp. A shot rang out from inside the house they had been a while before; a girl's dying scream came.

"Mia!" shouted Anisette, remembering the Darcsen girl they had left behind. "Go and see if she's okay!" she ordered Randy. She was finally the true leader; Randy followed her command without objection.

They were already almost out of ammo; after a few minutes' combat, Anisette went back to base camp to check up on Mia. The Darcsen girl was dying, the ends of her hair were red with her blood and there was the unmistakable mark of a maul on her chest.

"Randy, go check up on Helmut and Franca!" she called to Randy

"Why are you ordering only me around yet, captain?" he asked with a smile.

"Because you're the only engineer. Now get going," she said. Mumbling something about power gone to one's head, Randy went out.

Mia's eyes followed her as she dropped by the Darcsen girl's side and took her head in her hands. The girl tried to say something, but was so weak Anisette couldn't hear her, so she lowered her ear to the girl's mouth.

"Protect... my home... please..." she said.

"Don't say things like that, you're not dying," said Anisette, her eyes filling with tears. Mia went limp in her hands. She was dead.

"Anisette, we've got more rebels incoming. We gotta..." said Zack, opening the door, and went quiet as he saw Mia's lifeless body. "Mia!" he said, dropping his sword.

He bent down and put her hand on her wrist, then his ear on her chest as if hoping to feel a pulse. When he didn't, he got up and wordlessly picked up his sword, then went back outside to fight. Anisette remembered that they were in the middle of a battle, so she left Mia where she was and picked up her gun. As she went out, she saw Zack running shieldless towards the rebels, both his hands on his sword's handle, the tip of his sword dragging in the snow. As he neared the rebels, he heaved his sword upwards and swung in sideways, cutting their furthermost men in half. The rebels fired at him and his blood flew unrealistically around him, staining the pure white snow with red, but he didn't seem to be aware of this and kept hacking and slashing at the rebels. By the time he had killed two thirds of their regiment, he had lost so much blood that he couldn't lift his sword one more time and fell on the ground, the rebels still firing at him as if afraid that he would get up again, as he had done so many times. Only when their commander (who was at the very back) shouted at them to stop did they release their triggers.

As soon as they did this, Anisette ran forward herself and threw a grenade in their midst, killing the rest except a commander and some of the men at the back.

"I'm Anisette Nelson, bitches!" she shouted. Not noticing the remaining rebels she picked up Zack, who was luckily still breathing (_For how long?_ she thought) and started to walk back to base camp to heal him when Squad 3's commander shot her with a single bullet and she fell, dropping Zack.

She turned over and saw the men walking towards her. Determined not to get caught without a fight, she started dragging herself backwards while aiming her gun at them.

"You're really pretty, aren't you?" said the rebel commander. "I think I'll take you back to base for the rest of us to have some fun."

_How stupid_, thought Anisette, and shot his soldiers first, then him before they could move.

"Choke on that, bastard," she said.

"Anisette, their tank!" shouted Franca from further up the mountain. The large rebel tank came into view, containing the last of Rebel Squad 3.

"Nevermind, I got it covered," she said, a crazy plan already in her head. Mia's death and Zack's terrible injuries had driven her over the edge, and she ran past the others, who watched wordlessly (except for Helmut, who shouted, "Are you trying to get killed?") and leapt right onto the tank. She threw her last grenade into its barell, said "Put that in your pipe and smoke it!", and jumped off as the tank exploded.

Unfortunately for her, the tank pilot had fired a round at the same moment, so the explosion was bigger than she thought. The tank's lance, which had stilled managed to get out of the barell, came flying at her on its side and luckily, instead of piercing her (which would have been the end of her) simply hit her hard and fell down with a thud. In fact, she fell nearly down the whole mountain, injured horribly, and landed a little below Zack, who was still there and still alive.

Thinking that she was going to die, she closed her eyes and willed the pain to go, and all she saw for the next few days were blurred visions of people; one of them was blonde, the other a redhead.

When she woke up, she heard people talking quietly around her. There was a funny feeling in her head; she shook it, trying to clear it.

"Oh, she's awake," said a familiar voice.

Anisette's eyes opened at once. "Cosette? What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you to thank me. You were all dead back there."

Anisette slowly looked around the room: Helmut, Noel, Franca, and Randy lay on hospital beds. At the far end was Zack, who was sitting up and talking to Avan as if they were old friends.

Anisette realized something. "We're back at Lanseal?" she asked.

Riener started to nod when Vario, Joachim and Pete shoved him aside and started talking all together.

"You're heroes, kids! All of you!"

"You were so lucky back there."

"You saved the Archduchess!" said Pete.

"Saved the Archduchess...?" Anisette repeated slowly. "We were just keeping those Darcsen houses from being burned down."

"The rebels lied: they weren't here for just the Darcsens. Cordelia was going to visit Diebal to make sure of the Darcsens' welfare, and they meant to attack her," said Cosette.

Across the room, Zack saw that she was awake and smiled. Avan came over.

"So, you saved me?" Anisette asked Cosette.

"Yeah, all of us. We felt terrible for leaving you behind," Cosette replied. "Say, that Darcsen girl-"

"She's dead," said Anisette shortly.

"We buried her," said Avan. "And thank Cosette for bringing us back to save you from being doornails."

"You saved us?" Anisette asked Cosette, her heart filling with gratitude.

Cosette looked like she was about to say something, then walked away. Anisette looked at her, all the spitefulness she had felt evaporating.

A few days later, they were all fully healed. Cordelia invited them to Randgriz to present them with the Order of the Holy Lance medal. Everyone seemed to regard The Anisette Detachment with a newfound respect, and they went from being the team that lost their only match to the greatest heroes of Lanseal since Leon Hardins.

Only one last big job remained for Anisette.


	10. One Last Friendly Match

**Chapter 10: One Last Friendly Match**

**(A/N: This is after the Dandarius incident. Simply put, Avan finally solved his brother 'll have to play the game for details.)**

Anisette hadn't seen Cosette since their conversation in the hospital. Now that she was fully healed, she had only one last thing to do. She kept putting it off, but, its name tarnished by the news of human experimentation and its campus destroyed by the rebel attacks, Lanseal announced that it would be closing its doors on the last day of the year. Class G had decided to hold their own graduation ceremony under the shadow of Lanseal's bell tower. Anisette knew that she might never encounter her friends again, and she was determined to leave Lanseal on a good note with everybody. She wondered what she was going to do after she left Lanseal, under whose shelter she had lived for two, turning into three, years. She knew that she would always find a way though. For now, she had to focus on the job at hand.

The day before Lanseal would be closing, she found Cosette in the drill grounds. Cosette, too, showed none of her former hostility towards her.

"Hey, looks like we'll never meet again," Anisette said.

"That's the best thing I've ever heard," Cosette joked.

"So, I want to say, sorry for having given you a hard year," said Anisette.

"Nah, you made it fun for me," said Cosette. Both of them walked forward and hugged. Anisette felt the final weight she had on her mind being lifted.

"Tomorrow, we're going to have our last drill, and I'm going to make sure we even the score against each other," said Anisette.

Cosette laughed. "For sure!" she said.

The build-up to any drill between two teams usually involved open hostility between the two factions. This time, however, both detachments were friendly. They even wished each other good luck.

December 31st dawned. Anisette woke up feeling as if she was in Wonderland. A good many of the Lanseal students were already up and were embracing each other, and saying goodbye.

Anisette got into her squad leader uniform, and walked out to where Zack and the rest of the squad were assembled. "Good luck, guys," was all what she said.

In the drill grounds, their instructor, Calvaro Rodriguez, was shaking hands with many of the students, none of his usual anger in him. Cosette and Anisette's squads assembled in front of each other, Cosette and Anisette shook hands, and the match started.

Immediately Anisette issued orders to her squad. Leaving two of them to protect the base camp, she told the remaining four to spread out over the drill grounds. Cosette seemed to have done the same. Already students were firing at each other.

Half an hour later, only Cosette and Avan from Squad Jarde remained. Avan was about to capture The Anisette Detachment's base camp, when Zack struck him in the back, so that only Cosette was left. Ten minutes later, Anisette found her and shot her, giving the Anisette Detachment their first, final, and only victory.

Everyone cheered light-heartedly as Anisette skipped for joy. There were no bitter rivalries; no enmities now. Everyone knew that this was the last day of Lanseal, and was determined to leave on a good note with each other.

Anisette, Cosette, Zack and Avan hugged each other, as all enmity forgotten, they headed for the Lanseal gates.

In the last few minutes, Professor Brixham gave a moving farewell speech, which would have reduced them to tears if Avan hadn't interrupted it. The students cheered and threw their graduation hats in the air. Jarde soared joyfully among them as they set out to the wide-open world.

_Epilogue: Anisette and Zack married in 1940. They still keep in touch with Avan, Cosette, and their other friends at Lanseal._


End file.
